Pink of Perfection

A friend of mine who has recently received an Adult Dose of Life’s Bad Stuff met me for a cozy fall cocktail a couple of weeks ago. We sat in the wooden booths of my favorite neighborhood bar surrounded by walls of white subway tile and settled in for Real Talk. The buttered rum (her) and apple-gin-maple-syrup cocktail (me) quickly got us in a chatty groove. I was coming off a time in life so happy, I burst into tears every time I recounted details of it, and my friend was coming off a time so trying, she too burst into tears. At this particular moment in time, toasting our friendship in low candlelight, our lives could not have been more different.

But my friend is kind of a genius of perception and she found the common thread: we both felt blessedly lucky to have support. For me, having friends and family from different times in my life and points on the globe descend on one backyard to toast to a solemn vow made for a wedding day of magic. For my friend, her friends and loved ones were laboring on her behalf — behind the scenes at times — to make her life run a little more smoothly as she passed through some serious turbulence. “If I’ve learned one thing this fall,” she said, “it’s that we get what we need.”

I wonder if we need the kick in the pants life serves us sometimes–the tests of our mettle, the challenges of our character. I prefer, more pleasantly, to believe that life knows when we need to see an adorable child or step into a short line at the grocery store. But there is some comfort in knowing that whether we’re served treats or tests, we are always only getting what we can handle. It is hard to see the need in brushes with death or extreme poverty or hunger, but maybe it’s in there somewhere. I’m still trying to figure it out.

What I’m sure of, though, is that upon returning from my honeymoon, I needed to meet with a group of strangers on a Sunday evening in November in a cozy brownstone to drink red wine and talk about Mad Men. I needed a book club — had wanted one for years — but at exactly the right moment, there it was: a roomful of smart, accomplished women who wanted to talk about literature and eat cake. My kind of girls.

Classic Pound Cake
adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
Serves 8

I’ve included Martha’s suggestions baking time as printed in the original recipe, but want to note that my pound cake required an additional 20-25 minutes in the oven. Baker beware!

3 sticks (1½ cup) butter
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1½ granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 large eggs
confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixture, beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium-low speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until gake is golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, 10-15 minutes. Turn out the ake onto the rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.